Hey guys,
Went into a fly shop that was selling Thomas & Thomas rods and I noticed the stripping guides were “backwards”. The guys at shop laughed and said they all thought the same thing when they saw it, however there was in fact some “science” behind the reasoning. Does anyone know exactly why, they wrap the guides in this fashion?

I hope this explains it

It's a marketing gimmick, we' re talking about it, right.

The gist of the explanation that I've read is that a loop (I think they meant bight) of line can ride up the double leg and go over the guide causing a jam. I know that on some rods on cold days I do get loops around that guide. I'm never watching it happen though and don't know the cause of it.
I'd say two legs toward the grip is just as much a "gimmick" as two legs away from the grip is. I've never read an explanation of why we should put two legs towards the grip, other than "it's just the right way".

I follow Graywolf on instagram, as I'm sure many here do (because he's a wizard...) and I can't be 100% sure, but I think he posted pictures of a rod today that had the stripping guide oriented the same way as the T&T described above. I'll bet I only noticed it because I had read this thread earlier in the day. I'm going to keep a closer eye out for this from now on, and see if other rod builders do it. And, since I'm just about to wrap the stripping guide on the build I'm working on, I might just do it that way. I mean, if it's good enough for Graywolf (and Thomas & Thomas)...

I repaired a streamer rod for my brother two years ago and accidentally put the stripper on “backward.” Two years later he still hasn’t noticed. Rod still casts, line still tangles, it’s all good.

Well played, I was wondering how long it was going to take for someone to post a pic of a “backward” snake guide.

The snake guide is the original anti-tangle guide. As for the backwards stripper I can see how it helps with a spinning rod setup the most, for a fly rod I doubt it helps much or hurts either.

Remember when Doug "The Bass Professor" Hannon (RIP) did some high-speed movie study of the way line flows through rod guides and subsequently invented the MicroWave line guides?

Even though he provided what seemed like solid proof that they were more effective than standard type guides, they never caught on. I think they are still offered though.

You could cast one for hours with a reversed stripping guide and you may or may not notice a difference. You’ll forget about it within 5 seconds of fishing.